


A Touch that Never Hurts

by FireopalCHAOS



Series: Uchiha are Witches and You Don't Mess with Witches [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Hidden Injury, M/M, MadaTobi Week 2020, Sphinx!Senju Tobirama, Sphinxes, Witch!Uchiha Madara, Witches, of a sort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:27:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25416154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireopalCHAOS/pseuds/FireopalCHAOS
Summary: The time of year has turned with requests slowing to a standstill and Madara is focusing on getting things prepared for the coming year. Tobirama has been acting strange, though. Half of him wants to sit the sphinx down and draw out what is going on with food and a hearth fire, but the other half knows the best thing is to just wait.
Relationships: Senju Tobirama & Uchiha Madara, Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Madara, pre-Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Madara
Series: Uchiha are Witches and You Don't Mess with Witches [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1840840
Kudos: 116





	A Touch that Never Hurts

**Author's Note:**

> This take place in the same world as Inquires of the Mind, about 35-40 years before. It was also written for MadaTobi Week 2020 using the prompts Magic AU and Hidden Injury. Another chapter might be added.

Madara squints at the sphinx in front of him. Tobirama has been acting weird the last few days and it’s been making his fingers itch with the desire to comfort. Even Inber has started to notice something’s up. However, as much as Madara _wants_ to know what is going on, the past year has shown exactly how private sphinxes are and Madara doesn’t want to drive him away.

Instead, he will wait. If this _is_ something Tobirama wants to talk about, he’ll do so when he’s ready. For now, the silence between them is companianable and Madara has various things to prepare for the coming year.

“What are these for? Tobirama asks.

Madara blinks, taking a moment to come out of the meditative haze, “These specifically?A lot of things if one knows what they’re doing. Right now, I’m prepping them for specific uses such as five-year-old-pickled, six-months-dried. It’s always best to prepare when you’re not busy.”

“You don’t have any jobs right now?”

There’s something about Tobirama’s tone that unsettles Madara, even though when he glances over he can’t read anything wrong. “No. I don’t have any requests at the moment.”

Tobirama gives a hum and Madara waits to see if he’ll say anything else. When he doesn’t, Madara turns back to his prep work. Time passes easily like that with their silence only broken by the comforts of _home_ and Tobirama’s occasional question. It’s not until the sky grows gray with the beginning of dawn that it’s broken for more.

“Could I ask you something?” Tobirama says as Madara squeezes another jar into the cauldron.

“Of course,” Madara grins. “If it’s something I can’t answer, I’ll let you know.”

Tobirama is quiet for a moment, the look he gets when trying to phrase something correctly prominent. “Could you undo another witch’s spell work?”

“Yes,” Madara answers. He pauses, thinks more about what he knows on working with other witches. “Technically. It’s one of those things where anyone could do it but it depends heavily on the weaving they’re working with.”

“You would have to look at it.”

Madara nods. He’s not sure entirely where this is going but he doesn’t like it.

Tobirama is quiet again, eyes pinned to the floor and whatever is going on, Madara hopes he’s willing to share. For a long moment, everything seems frozen.

Tobirama bows his head, hair covering his face and Madara’s breath catches in his throat. “Could I have your help?”

It takes a moment for him to answer, he doesn’t want his voice to crack, “Of course. What do you need help with?”

There’s a moment of hesitation before Tobirama pulls off his shirt, “It’s on my back.”

No wonder he’s so tense. Madara is careful as he stands and steps behind Tobirama, aware of the fact he is far more the typical sphinx than his brother. When he looks at Tobirama’s back, he sucks in a sharp breath and has to hold it to keep from yelling. There’s a circle painted a dead blue centered on his back. For all Madara can’t feel it yet, the symbols he sees are not ones he associates anything good with.

He reaches out, wanting to touch, but doesn’t want to overstep. "Can I touch it?”

Tobirama gives a single nod and he settles his palm against the circle. It’s- uncomfortable and a too sweet poison on his lips. A string of words that aren’t a lie, but aren’t the truth either.

He wants to rip his hand away and give Inber this scent to hunt it down, but that would freak Tobirama out and this witch is dead already. Instead, he pulls his hand back slowly, “This is a control circle. What...What does it do?”

“It...It keeps me from shifting.” Tobirama’s voice is low, the sort of secrets whispered when the world is asleep and Madara _almost_ wants to commit necromany to kill this witch again. “I... _received_ it a year and a half ago. And ripped out the throat of the man who thought it a smart idea.”

Madara bites his lip, thinking. He doesn’t know too much about the Senju’s family life--that’s at least something Hashirama _doesn’t_ gush about--but he doubts any of them would take this sort of insult and curse quietly. “You haven’t told anyone about this.”

“No, I...I told Touka. But it was when Hashirama had just finished courting Mito and I didn’t want to pull attention away from that,” Tobirama says and Madara doubts that Touka would have wanted to keep this quiet.

There is a lot that Madara wants to say about this situation, but for now he pushes it down, focuses on _right now_ where Tobirama is tense enough to make bows look loose and refusing to lift his gaze from the floor. He steps away, goes to the shelves of things he makes sure to always keep in stock and starts digging through it.

“I should be able to remove it,” he says, keeps his voice just loud enough to be heard over the clinking of glass. “If I can’t, there’s someone I trust with my brother’s life I can send you to. She’s a master at what she does.” His hand hits the small jar that always makes his fingers go numb and he pulls it down. He can feel eyes on his back as he tilts the jar back and forth. “The biggest thing with this is how long it’ll take. I’ll need to figure out how the circle’s put together and the best way to remove it which will take awhile. Then the actual removal which could go smoothly or not; could take an hour or a week.”

Madara turns and Tobirama’s watching him, curious and hesitant, “If you want it done quickly, I’m not good at that, but she is and she won’t ask questions.”

That hesitance overtakes the curiosity, “I would like you to look at it before I go to anyone else.” Tobirama’s gaze flicks to the window in the door, “Ah, but, maybe not right now.”

His lips twitch up for a brief moment and he looks down at the jar, “I figured that would be the case. If you want, this might fight against some of the circle. I’m not sure how much, though.”

“That’s…,” Tobirama’s voice wavers and he takes a moment to continue. “Only if you don’t mind.”

Madara huffs a laugh, glances up through his bangs. “I should be asking you that, this has to be spread over that circle.”

Tobirama blinks, slow and soft, “Only if you do not mind.”

He nods, moves back over and settles down behind Tobirama. His fingers are already numb from holding the jar and he has to be careful as he pulls some of the powder out or risks paralyzing his entire arm. It’s easy to spread it out, though, even with Tobirama’s shifting muscles.

“It feels…” Tobirama starts before trailing off.

He smiles, “Strange? Supposedly, you get used to it if you use this enough, but I generally don’t so… Just let me know if anything starts to feel like it’s burning.”

Tobirama hums in response and that comfortable silence falls between them. Even if he can’t feel his fingers, the motions of rubbing something into a person’s skin is soothing and Tobirama slowly eases as he works over the entirely of the circle.

Madara almost thinks that Tobirama would be purring, if it weren’t for this circle.

He finishes, puts the lid on the jar and heads to put it back. Tobirama stays sitting, eyes half-closed when he glances over and seemingly not quite aware that Madara has finished. It’s more likely, he figures as he crouches next to the hearth to check on the cauldron, that Tobirama is actually poking at what has changed with the addition of Aunt’s last gift to him.

“Madara,” Tobirama says, voice closer than it was and he looks over.

The sphinx still looks the same on the surface, but Madara spots small things that are different. His pupils are closer to slits than circles, spots of just slightly different skin color, and fangs just barely poking out.

Madara’s lips twitch up and goes to say something when arms wrap around him and whatever he was going to say gets stuck in his throat.

“Thank you.”


End file.
